Big As a House
by OverwhelmedAndTerrified
Summary: Austin had seen this kind of thing in movies, the husband who was too stressed or too tired or too afraid to come home, but he never thought he'd be that guy. They weren't even married for Christ's sake. AU Auslly two-shot
1. Chapter 1

**Okay first let me just say that this was originally a "Twisted" fic but I am absolutely in love with it and was curious about how it might translate into other fandoms. So I changed some names and situations to make it work. This is AU and only 2 chapters long and it's also not your typical Auslly so tread lightly...**

Austin had seen this kind of thing in movies, the husband who was too stressed or too tired or too afraid to come home, but he never thought he'd be that guy. They weren't even married for Christ's sake. But he certainly hadn't been sitting out in the parking lot going on 11 minutes because he just loved the feel of his Honda's interior.

"What are you doing Moon?" he groaned, running both hands through his hair. It was a little bit longer and deliberately more unruly than usual. She kept hounding him to get a haircut so he just let it grow out of spite; a small victory in a petty war. Austin took a deep breath of preparation and grabbed the plastic Walmart bags from his passenger seat.

"Opa Gangnam style! Heeeey sexy laaaaday!" his cell blasted a ringtone Ally had set up months ago as a prank. It was ridiculous but he never changed it. That silly joke was proof that they used to be so much happier.

"Hey Dez." he answered after checking the screen.

"Dude! Job interview at Sea Salt Productions this Thursday. You in?"

"Sea Salt Productions? Isn't that where you work?"

"Yeah."

"Sooo what would you be my boss or something?"

Dez hissed sympathetically, "Nooot exactly..?"

Austin rolled his eyes as his best friend started rambling senselessly like he always did. It was good to see him being his normal self though. After Trish flew halfway across the country to attend UCLA last year, Dez had fallen into this pseudo-depression. The unequivocal ache of love unrequited combined with his and Trish's inability to reconcile created a black hole that nearly swallowed him completely. Fortunately, Ally and Austin remained in Miami and were able to facilitate his speedy rejuvenation.

Ally and Dez both enrolled at the University of Miami. Currently out for the summer, Dez had started a mandatory co-op for his Bachelor of Arts Film Production program about 3 weeks prior.

"Whoa ok breathe man. Stop rambling and just spit it out." Austin pulled a Slim Jim from one of the Walmart bags. "What position am I interviewing for?"

"Well you'd kinda be like a gopher...not a real gopher animal, you'd be the one to buy coffee and run errands and like...'Oh hey Austin GO FOR some donuts for the board meeting' or 'GO FOR my dry cleaning because I'm the CEO and I like crisp shirts' or 'GO FOR uh to McDonalds and-'"

"Dez I get it!"

"Uh yeah ok so, are you interested or what?"

Austin leaned his head back and sighed with everything in him. Dez wasn't going to be his boss, EVERYBODY was going to be his boss. He stared at the overhead light of his car.

After leaving Marino High School his junior year and rocketing to nationwide fame, Austin couldn't believe it had all been ripped from him. He was a real life popstar for maybe a year and a half when the blog surfaced. Dez had called it "H8ter Girl on STEROIDS!" because that's truly what it was. The pictures, though innocent enough, were given very incriminating captions. The headlines were far more vicious, the quotes were taken so far out of context they warped into these offensive things that Austin would never really say. Where Tilly Thompson's site had been mean but silly, this new blog was downright hateful. Under the anonymous name "DarksideOfThe…", somebody out there in the world laced Austin Moons image, persona, actions, and words with so much malice it was difficult to ignore. Especially since everything was real; the photos, the blurbs all accurate but spun to paint him as the worst kind of person.

They discovered right away that it wasn't Tilly exacting revenge. With her credibility publicly ruined, she had retired from social media indefinitely, choosing instead to attend some technical college in Georgia and focus on an associate's degree in entomology. So when even private investigators couldn't discover the identity of "DarksideOfThe…", Austin could only go on talk shows to deny the blog's rumors. It was a he said she said situation and he lost, horribly. The worst part was that his fans didn't abandon him immediately, no their betrayal was much more insidious. The gigs grew far and few between before reaching a point of sporadic cancellations. Album sales took a heartbreaking nosedive. Companies unwilling to associate themselves with a less than reputable character terminated endorsement deals and put future projects on temporary hiatus. When Starr Records finally dropped him, it had been his lowest point. Jimmy didn't even have the decency to do it in person.

He had been basically unemployed ever since, doing club appearances and random shows that were always sparsley populated, grossly underpaying, and tragically infrequent. The residual cash from his 18 months of celebrity had dwindled fast, prompting him to live off the few gigs he booked, a little financial help from his parents, and his girlfriend, Ally; which, really, was no way for any self-respecting man to survive. So he was forced to shelve dreams of regaining stardom and actually look for a normal occupation; but that had proven to be fucking impossible. It was frustrating but still not a huge surprise that jobs didn't want to hire the high school dropout with nothing but a failed singing career on his resume.

He ripped the plastic from the Slim Jim with his teeth, "Yeah I'm in." He paused for a second, "This isn't gonna be like that one 'interview' you set me up with is it?"

"Ok look Austin, I SWEAR that I didn't know it was a strip club!"

"Suuure you didn't."

"Their want ad was very professional!"

"Right."

"You know you probably could've gotten the job if you'd actually put some thought into a routine-"

"I am not having this conversation." Austin chuckled.

"Well the interview's at 2."

"Thanks man."

"Yeah no problem."

A weighted lull in the conversation left both guys pondering very different things and unsure of what to say.

"Austin-"

"How-"

They began simultaneously.

"Go ahead." Dez prompted.

"I was just gonna ask how you were doing. I know it's been a tough year for you."

"I could ask you the same thing."

Silence settled. Austin waited.

"She still might come visit. You know like towards the end of the summer before school starts back up." Dez attempted to convince them both.

"She might..." Austin nodded slowly, "...but if she doesn't..."

"I'll be disappointed sure but, I'm not gonna get the Trish De La Rosa blues again I promise."

"Good."

"Yeah."

Another palpable lapse in dialogue.

"What were you gonna say before?"

"I can't even remember." Dez laughed a nervous laugh that was really more sad than anything.

"Ok well you know if you wanna talk-"

"Yeah sure man. Listen I gotta go get these files uh...filed before 5. I'll talk to you later."

"Alri-"

The dial tone said goodbye before he could. He set the phone down on his thigh and took a bite of Slim Jim. Dez had been his bestfriend for a very long time. And he always at had a hand in everything positive that happened in his career. And even though Austin felt he could never repay the guy for constantly having his back, Dez always did kind, selfless things, as if it was he who owed Austin.

Half the beef jerky gone, he finally found some kind of courage. He'd been out in the parking lot for nearly half an hour and the last thing he needed was for her to grow impatient. But everything felt so ominous after his conscious decision to man up. The rustle of the Walmart bags, the reassuring beep of his Honda's locking mechanism, even his sneakers' gentle scrape across the asphalt lot drew him closer to a nerve-frazzling uncertainty. He paused and set the bags down before quickly finger combing his hair into a semi-decent style; one less thing for her to harp about.

Austin slowly ascended the stairs of building 12. He planned on telling her about the interview right away. Ally always said she loved him in a suit. Maybe a job where he'd potentially have to wear a button up shirt and tie everyday would put her in a good mood. The very possibility made those last few steps to apartment B bearable.

He entered the small but well-constructed residence with a rush of apprehension and the remaining Slim Jim cigar-like between his teeth.

"It's about time. What took you so long?"

Ally was sitting on the couch with all the attitude in the world, scribbling in her ever-present book. She didn't even look up as he silently walked through the living room. Now that he was back in the line of fire, Austin's trepidation immediately gave way to annoyance.

"Did you get my blue ranch?" she asked.

He heard her approaching as he set the bags down on their dark, cherry wood kitchen table.

"Yeah." he mumbled around the Slim Jim, passing her a party sized bag of chips.

"What about the yogurt?"

Austin handed her a tub of vanilla Yoplait before pulling out the few groceries he'd bought: milk, eggs, and pancake mix. He put the cold stuff in the fridge and the mix on top of it. Ally set her yogurt on the counter and ripped the lid off, not noticing that Austin had stopped to watch. She slowly peeled the plastic cover back, taking her time to lick the vanilla skin there. Her boyfriend leaned against the fridge and stared, suddenly very, very aware of how long it had been since they had sex. Completely clean, the plastic film lay forgotten on the floor as she pulled the chip bag open. That strong blue ranch smell wafted from inside and made her mouth water. She'd had an intense craving hours before she made Austin go on a Walmart run and now that her brain sensed satisfaction, an almost euphoric sensation washed over her.

Ally gingerly reached for the biggest chip she could see and carefully dipped it into the semi-firm vanilla yogurt. Not caring about manners or appearances, she shoved the whole sweet and tangy combo in her mouth. Austin's dick stirred juuust a little as he watched her lick 2 of her fingertips. He was too used to her bizarre eating habits to be disgusted. Especially when her dimples sank deeper as she smiled a genuine smile for the first time in days. Her light brown eyes suddenly regarded him quizzically.

"Wha?" she asked, mouth totally full.

He took another bite of jerky and chewed slowly. Her hair, which had gotten even longer and shinier the past few months, was down in an uncontrollable mess of natural waves. He couldn't remember the last time he ran his fingers through it. Her skin, though pale, was more radiant than ever, even up where it was wrinkling in confusion on her forehead. She shifted under his gaze, causing her slightly larger breasts to shift as well. The tight white Beatles shirt, which she refused to stop wearing until it absolutely didn't fit anymore, cried out for 'Help!' Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr's faces stretched almost beyond recognition over her boobs. But it was really John Lennon who suffered. He was a bunched and taut mass of wrinkles attempting to cover the vast expanse of her belly.

Ally was 6 months pregnant.

**The next chapter is also the final one. Oh but posting is so exhausting, if only I had some reviews to motivate me…..**


	2. Chapter 2

He studied the sheer roundness of her stomach. A rigorous lotion regimen had prevented stretch marks so far, leaving smooth, monochromatic skin that gaped out from underneath her shirt.

"What Austin?" Ally snapped suddenly, unnerved by his insistent stare.

"You look so beautiful." His eyes drifted up to meet hers.

She stiffened and froze with a chip en route to her waiting mouth. The kitchen's atmosphere became noticeably tenser.

"Don't say that." she stabbed her loaded potato chip in the yogurt tub and grabbed the bag of blue ranch.

"Why not?" he followed her into the living room. She waddled in that cute way he liked and it made him chuckle at the absurdity of her mood swing.

"Because I'm not beautiful." she turned to face him, "I'm as big as a house and I eat like a monster."

"Als you're pregnant. I'm pretty sure that stuff is supposed to happen." he shoved the last of the Slim Jim in his mouth.

"Whatever." she huffed, lowering herself to the couch as best as she could while balancing her pre-dinner snack. Austin chewed thoughtfully. It definitely wasn't the first time she'd grown aggravated with him when he thought he was just being a good boyfriend. Multiple talks with his mother had informed him that Ally's crazy mood swings were completely normal. According to Mimi, his girlfriend was just a walking, talking hormonal imbalance at this point. He tried his best to remain patient and accommodating, but endless months of her see sawing between elation and fury, affection and distress, were wearing on him.

Ally had moved into the 1 bedroom apartment a few days before classes began at the U of Miami. When they found out she was pregnant about 2 weeks into the 2nd semester, Austin left his childhood home and his parents behind to be a live-in, round the clock support system and food fetcher. The only problem was that his unemployment seemed to be stretching on forever, forcing Ally to keep working double shifts at Sonic Boom even as her body continued to swell. A majority of the time her shoulders bore the weight of the pregnancy, and all it entailed plus job responsibilities and collegiate-level homework assignments. It kind of helped that it was summer vacation but she was still stressed to the max and it made Austin feel guiltier than he could stand sometimes. He felt like he deserved every bit of her wrath, no matter how good his intentions. He took a shallow breath and attempted to avoid an argument at all costs.

"I have a job interview on Thursday."

"Really!?" Ally let him have one of her pretty smiles, "That's so great! Looks like the Austin train is pulling into the station chugga chugga chugga chugga WOO WOO!" she pumped her fist twice and he had to laugh.

All at once elated, Ally held out her arms and motioned him over so she wouldn't have to stand. Relieved at her intensely positive reaction, Austin sat down and leaned into the hug. With their arms wrapped around one another, for a moment they were truly what Dez would call 'Auslly'.

"Where is the interview? What time? What are you going to wear? Details, Moon, details!" she popped a celebratory chip.

He grinned, "It's on Thursday at 2 o'clock. It's at the Sea Salt Productions building off of Garnette street, you know the place where Dez does his co-op?"

Ally stopped mid-chew and there was yet another giant shift in the room's temperature.

"Dez?"

He hesitated, very unsure of what were the right and wrong things to say, "Uh yeah you remember Dez right? Tall, red hair, in love with Trish De La Rosa?"

"Austin stop it with the jokes. Is Dez the one who set this up?"

"Yeah why?"

"Well I mean he was the one who got you that interview at Mr. Pop's All Male Revue."

"That was an accident Als. He didn't know that it was a strip club."

"He didn't know that Mr. Pop's ALL MALE REVUE was- "

"It just said 'Mr. Pop's' on the want ad. He thought it was a restaurant or something."

"I don't think you should just blindly trust Dez with this kind of stuff. What if he's wasting your time again?" Ally awkwardly stood up and faced him with her arms folded.

"What do you have against Dez all of a sudden?" he stayed seated, hoping that might diffuse whatever was slowly erupting, "It's DEZ he wouldn't hurt a fly let alone waste my time on purpose."

"UGH! I know that Austin I just..."

She turned away suddenly.

"You just what Ally?"

There was a pause that he could tell was pivotal. She was either going to continue being upset or switch gears and tackle a different emotion entirely. He watched her shoulders rise and fall in a sigh that broke open at the end. She sniffled and Austin was instantly on his feet.

"Als what is it?" He went around to face his pregnant and emotional girlfriend.

Tears streamed down her face, dripping faster with each tremulous breath.

"I just...I want you to get a good job Austin." Her red eyes met his, sending a pang of guilt to spread behind his ribs, "You've been through so much a-and you deserve a good job. You deserve it."

He grasped her elbows between his fingers and she melted at the touch. They pressed together, Austin holding her as close as he could without crushing her big belly.

He didn't know what the right words were. Mimi hadn't offered any advice regarding this kind of situation. Probably because he hadn't told her how the guilt made it difficult to function sometimes, or how he was becoming increasingly aware that Ally deserved so much better than him, or how the sound of her crying destroyed him one piece at a time.

"Ally." he breathed, pulling back to look into her watery eyes, "I know this has been hard for you. I know that. You're carrying our son and you shouldn't have to work at all, let alone as hard as you do. And it kills me that I can't provide for you like I should...it KILLS me Als." he cradled her face in his hands, "I just need some more time- "

"Time Austin!?" her hormones surged, tipping the scales to 'pissed off' at breakneck speed. Ally wrenched her head away. "I'm 6 months pregnant with your baby! Am I still going to be waddling into Sonic Boom 3 months from now!? Pulling double shifts all the time and carrying heavy instruments and standing for hours on end!? And then what's going to happen when I have the baby and I can't go back to work right away!?"

"I swear to you I'm trying-"

"You've been trying since December Austin! It's July, I'm STILL paying all the bills, and you're playing around at strip clubs with Dez!"

"Playing around!?" He was losing his composure, "People don't want to hire me Ally! It doesn't matter that I worked my ass off to get my career going, it doesn't matter that I've played dozens of sold out concerts, it doesn't even matter that none of the stuff on that fucking blog was true! Nobody wants to give me a chance ok! Nobody!"

"I'm EXHAUSTED!" She ran a hand through her unruly hair, "My back hurts ALL the time! I puke two HUNDRED times a day and I pee two THOUSAND times a day! And then I have to go into work and pretend like it's all good when it's not!"

And that's when she began to crumble. Her entire demeanor changed from anger to utter anguish in the blink of 2 teary eyes. Austin watched her body sag under the weight of something she could barely carry and he really wasn't sure if it was from hormones or just sheer disappointment this time.

"It's not all good Austin but I can't take a day off because we have a baby coming in 3 months whether we're ready or not, whether you're unemployed or not!" she sniffled, "I haven't written a song in MONTHS. You know what's in there right now?" Ally pointed to her precious book where it lay on the coffee table, "About a million pages of me complaining about how tired I am. No lyrics, no music notes, just physical and emotional exhaustion." She spoke with a consuming sadness that shattered the pieces of his heart that weren't already rotten with remorse. He stepped closer and tried to wrap his arms around her.

"Just get off of me Austin!" she pushed him, "I can't keep-…..."

"What? You can't keep what? Ally?!"

He followed after her as she abruptly turned and headed towards the bedroom.

"I can't keep doing this, us! This relationship isn't working!"

She was crying harder than ever, but words escaped him completely. They had broken up only once. It was around Christmas when Austin lost his last remaining endorsement deal with the makers of myTAB. Another unwarranted termination had caused him to lash out hurtfully before folding in on himself. Ally had been an innocent bystander, a pretty piece of collateral damage. Ultimately, they were only single for like 2 and a half days before reconciling. But the tone of her voice just then implied something much more permanent

"...you don't mean that."

"Don't tell me what I mean!" she whirled around to face him.

Their son had been conceived in that very bedroom. It was a total lady's lair both before and after Austin moved in, but he didn't think he deserved any part in decorating until he could contribute to the apartment financially. But now Ally was screaming that what he did put forth, a little money and all of his love, still wasn't enough.

"I'm sorry okay. I'm trying." he pleaded with her. After hiding in the parking lot for half an hour and growing his hair out just to annoy her, Austin was still petrified at the prospect of losing the awkward beauty.

Ally bawled like the little boy she'd soon bring into the world. Usually she had such a naturally bright demeanor it rivaled the sun. Her lips were meant to smile and her eyes were meant to dance and her personality was meant to radiate positivity. Seeing her cry, especially because of him, especially this miserably hard, rocked Austin to his foundation. Here she was in the purple and white décor of her bedroom, falling to pieces and pushing him away.

"Ally please say something. I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "I have-"

All of a sudden she gasped and hunched over, hands immediately cradling her belly.

"Ally!?" Austin took 2 big strides to her.

"I need to sit down." she reached for him.

He grasped her wrist and elbow, carefully lowering her onto the queen-sized bed.

"What is it!?" Austin was starting to freak out, "I mean it can't be time yet right!? We still have-"

Without warning, Ally grabbed his wrist and placed his trembling hand on her stomach, just above and to the left of her gaping belly button. Somewhere within the turbid depths of amniotic fluid and placental tissue, their future son kicked. It was just a tiny thump of pressure vibrating beneath Ally's luminescent skin, across Austin's palm, and through his splayed fingers. His lips parted with a profound intake of breath. That was his son, already learning the choreography, just like his dad.

Austin's eyes found Ally's and she smiled at him tearfully. They sat there staring, falling into the depths of one another and waiting for another lively kick.

He began to gently rub her belly in circles

"I love you so much Austin." she whispered. The anger was forgotten, the agony dissipated. He delicately wiped her tears.

"I love you too Als." his hand caressed her stomach in soothing infinity symbols. "Things are gonna get better I promise."

She pulled her lips in and nodded silently. Ally didn't know if she fully believed him, but her heart was not about to let him go.

Austin gave her a reassuring smile. She watched and felt his soft lips press to her distended belly so tenderly it tore her heart in half. She had been pushing Austin away for months now but he was always too lovingly patient and she was always too irrevocably enamored. A wave of nausea hastily overtook her but she bit her lip hard, refusing to interrupt such a perfect moment. She knew in the back of her mind that, more than anything, her body was sick with worry, caging a secret that was as big as a house. Ally watched Austin place another affectionate kiss to her swollen abdomen and wondered if she'd ever find the courage to tell him…that the baby wasn't his.

The end.

**I'm really interested to hear what y'all think**


End file.
